The Mysterious Eggs
by PocketMage
Summary: Judy begins to find weird colored eggs… everywhere. In the cruiser, at her desk, even in her apartment! Nick swears he has nothing to do with it. Where are they coming from, then? Belated Happy Easter! One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia, I am not affiliated with Disney in any way, and I do not own any of these characters.** _  
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* * *

 _ATTN ZPD: The day has arrived. Operation Cracked Shell begins. No breaking rank. - CB_

* * *

'Hey, Carrots?' Something in Nick's voice put Judy on alert. 'Do Rabbits lay eggs?'

Her brow lowered.

'Nick,' she began in a tone of tried patience. 'You know very well that Rabbits are _mammals_ , and mammals, with the exception of monotremes, do NOT lay eggs.'

'Uh huh,' Nick mumbled, then lifted something up into her field of vision. 'Then... what's this?'

She glanced over out of the corner of her eye, then turned her head and stared. Her insides had turned to ice. Nick was holding up a neon green colored egg.

Judy's mind went back to earlier that morning, when she had picked up her bag and none else than a purple speckled egg had tumbled out after her. She had kicked it under the bed, thinking some kid out on the beat had snuck into her bag when she wasn't looking. Some silly prank.

But now they were showing up in the squad car? How was that possible?

'Green,' Nick said in a flat voice.

'I can see that,' she responded, her voice far away.

'No, I mean the light's green, Jude. We're sitting at a green light.'

She snapped back to attention and stepped on the gas, trying to shake off the creeping feeling of unease.

Nick shrugged and dropped the egg in the side pocket of his door. 'You know, whoever was in the car last probably left it.'

' _We_ had this car last. It's the only one with the adjustable seat, remember?'

Then something obvious dawned on her, and she narrowed her eyes at her partner.

'Are you doing this?'

'What?'

'Putting colored eggs everywhere?'

'Why would I do that? And what do you mean by 'everywhere'? Are you saying you found another one?' Nick turned to her in surprise.

'One of them fell out of my bag this morning.'

He was silent for a moment. Then he chuckled.

'What?'

'Nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you won't find any more of them.'

'Yeah, okay.' She shrugged it off with him and tried to take his advice.

Unfortunately for Judy Hopps, it was all just beginning.

* * *

 _ATTN ZPD: Phase 1 successful. Cont. to Phase 2. - CB_

* * *

They had returned to the station and she was at her desk filing that day's paper work. She had been working for a while when she leaned back in her chair to stretch. Judy froze. Something was in her chair. She leaped to her feet and found a collection of three eggs occupying her seat - blue, pink, and yellow. She stared at them in horror. Then Judy scanned her work area, and found yet another egg hiding behind her computer monitor.

Nick had turned to see what the commotion was, and picked up the yellow egg. He examined it like a jeweler, holding it up to the light. It sparkled in the bright fluorescents.

'So... does this hurt?'

'Don't. Even. Start.'

He gave a laugh. 'What? I'm concerned!' Then his eyes widened. 'Do you think they're gonna hatch? Are you going to be a mama? Hopps, these are the kinds of things you should tell your partner...'

'Nick!'

He could tell by the look on her face that she was starting to get freaked out. She couldn't figure out where the eggs were coming from. When she had showed up at her desk earlier, there was nothing!

'Nicholas P. Wilde, tell me the truth! Are you doing this?'

'I'm not doing anything, Carrots!' He raised his right paw, palm out, 'Scout's honor.'

She stared him down for a moment, but when he continued to look bemused and slightly concerned for her, she dropped it.

Then Judy gathered up all the eggs and dumped them into the wastebasket. She dusted her hands off. 'There, problem solved. They're just stupid eggs. It's not like they can multiply on their own, right?' She shrugged it off and went back to her work.

* * *

 _ATTN ZPD: Requesting backup._

* * *

That's when things got really weird.

Later that evening, Nick was sitting across from Clawhauser at The Pride when his phone rang. 'Nick?' Judy said when he picked up, and his heart gave a jolt at the frightened note in her voice.

'What's up?'

'Can you come over? Like, now?'

He was already getting up from the table and grabbing his jacket. 'Of course, on my way. What's going on?'

'Just... just hurry up.'

Clawhauser was watching over his turkey burger with concern.

'Can I bring Benji along?'

'Sure,' she squeaked.

Nick jerked his head for the Cheetah to follow, then said into the phone, 'Sit tight, Carrots, we'll be there in a bit.'

'Okay...' her voice sounded muffled and dangerously close to tears.

When they had arrived at her building and entered the lobby, Clawhauser groaned. 'There's no elevator!'

'It's an old building. The stairs are over here, come on.'

'This is why I don't do field work.'

Nick hightailed it up the stairs, leaving Clawhauser to huff and puff behind. 'Seriously, how do you pass the annual fitness exam?'

'I squeak by...' he muttered as the Fox disappeared.

Nick yanked open the door to the third floor and found Judy sitting leaned against the wall outside her apartment, her head on her knees.

'Judy! Are you okay?' He knelt down in front of her, but she didn't move. She just raised her arm and pointed to her apartment. The door was ajar.

Nick crept forward just as Clawhauser reached the landing.

'What's up, Judy?' he huffed, then went over to join Nick, looking terrified. If something had scared the unflappable bunny cop this badly, who knew what was waiting on the other side of that door for them? But they were cops! They had to face danger head on. Nick took a breath through his nose and pushed the door open. Then his jaw dropped.

Eggs everywhere. On the bed, on the chairs and table, peeking out behind the refrigerator, sticking out of the slots of the gas range. It was a tiny apartment, but it was filled with the things. In all the colors of the rainbow, too. It looked like a giant rainbow chicken had exploded. Tie-dyed, sparkled, striped, and speckled. Spotted and ribboned and everything else in between.

'What the -?'

'Whoa!'

'What do I do? They're everywhere!' Judy cried from her spot on the floor. 'They won't leave me alone!'

Nick didn't have an answer for her. All he could think to do was go into the kitchen, pull out a trash bag, and start throwing the things away.

* * *

 _ATTN ZPD: Phase 3 of Operation Cracked Shell begins. All units on high alert. - CB_

* * *

The next day at the precinct, Judy shuffled past the front desk littered with brightly colored eggs without batting an eye. Her expression was flat and emotionless. She had given up asking where they had come from when she found two matching eggs shoved into her socks that morning.

The other officers were all jabbering to each other in confusion as they found eggs in every nook and cranny of the precinct. Somehow word had got around that she was Patient Zero.

'They're even in interrogation! Hopps doesn't even come in here!' one of the detectives was shouting as he dragged in a suspect for questioning.

But what hurt Judy's pride even more was that this egg business was affecting the reputation of the ZPD. Criminals were starting to laugh at them.

'The ZPD is being overrun by eggs!' the cuffed suspect shouted. 'Guess that's what you guys get for having a rabbit cop, huh?'

'Rabbits don't lay eggs!' Judy shouted to the room in general. She was starting to lose it. Everyone stared at her.

'Hopps!' a familiar voice bellowed, and she flinched. 'Step into my office. NOW.'

Judy entered to find Bogo seated behind his desk, his stacks of paperwork piled high with even more eggs. To her dismay, she looked up and saw that there was one perched between his horns.

'Hopps,' he barked. He felt something wobble when he moved his head and, crossing his eyes, he finally spotted the egg. Bogo brushed it away violently with a huge hoof. It landed in the corner of the room with a dull crack. 'What is the meaning of all this?"

'She doesn't know what's going on, sir,' a voice spoke behind her. It was Nick, coming to her defense. He would only get himself in trouble.

She held up a paw. 'It's okay, Nick.'

Judy turned back to Bogo, her tiny shoulders slumped in defeat, her ears droopy. 'Sir, I can't say I know what's going on here, but the eggs do seem to be following only me, so I accept responsibility for them. I'm volunteering myself for modified assignment until the problem gets resolved. I wouldn't want to endanger the public or my fellow officers with my... affliction.' With that, she pulled off her badge from the front of her uniform and set it on his desk. Then she turned to leave the room, not looking at Nick as she passed.

Bogo spoke and it made her pause. 'So you really don't know what is going on here, Hopps?'

'No, sir... I'm sorry for the inconvenience.'

'Looks like you were right, Wilde. They really don't have our traditions out in Bunny Barrows.'

The statement was so odd, and Bogo's tone so normal and conversational, Judy's ears shot straight up into the air. She whirled around, looking between her partner and Chief, who were both regarding her out of the corners of their eyes with sly expressions.

'What -?'

Then there was a commotion behind her, and she turned around. The entire precinct had gathered in the main hall below, and to her horror they were all wearing plastic bunny ears and holding baskets filled with fake grass and... colored eggs!

'Happy Easter, Officer Hopps!' they chimed. Then everyone broke into hysterical laughter, including Nick and Bogo.

All except Judy. She was flabbergasted.

'I don't understand...' she turned to Nick. 'This was all just a joke?'

'A precinct-wide prank, actually. Took a lot of organizing. But yeah.'

'What about my apartment? How did you...?'

'That was us!' Her neighbors, Bucky and Pronk, poked their heads out of interrogation, also wearing pink bunny ears and grinning up to their antlers. They had been playing the role of 'suspects' that morning, and she had been so distracted by the eggs she hadn't noticed!

'I don't get it. Why would you go through all of this just to make me think I was being followed around by colored eggs?'

Clawhauser poked his head around the corner, 'You've really never heard of the Easter bunny?'

Judy stared at him. 'The what?'

Nick pulled out his phone and typed a few words into Zoogle. Then he showed her the image on the screen. It was a large white bunny, taller than her, looking dapper in a three-piece suit of pastel colors and a matching periwinkle bow tie. He was clutching a basket of eggs just like the ones that had been plaguing her for the last twenty-four hours.

'He's a pop culture icon, every kid in Zootopia knows about him. He's supposed to leave eggs and candy for kids on Easter as gifts. There was a whole cartoon show about it a while back, but it didn't air in Bunny Barrows because they were afraid it would be considered offensive.'

'That is the most offensive thing I've ever seen!' Judy said to the picture of the garish blue Rabbit.

'Aw, don't be like that, Judy,' Clawhauser said, looking to his fellow officers for support, 'We were excited when we realized we had our very own ZPD Easter bunny. Right, guys?'

'Yeah, it was a joke!

'Just a harmless prank, really.'

'We're glad to have you, Hopps!'

Judy's eyes swept over their worried faces. They weren't smiling any more after her reaction. They thought they had gone too far. And they had. Judy's face was a mask as she turned back into Bogo's office.

'Come on, Carrots… I only lied because -'

A moment later, Nick had an Easter basket full of grass dumped over his head.

Judy had gathered up the eggs in her arms, and began pelting the ZPD officers below. They screamed and ducked for cover under the desks.

'Happy Easter, you filthy animals!'

* * *

 _ATTN ZPD: Next year, make sure you aren't BCC-ing me on these memos. Oh, and bring back-up ammo. Hopps out._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Happy Belated Easter! Thanks for reading!**

 **Please follow me if you want to keep up with more Zootopia stories. I'll be posting another one-shot soon, and a full length story coming June 2017!**

 **(Or, if you want to read another right now, you can check out _Radio Wars.)_**

 _PocketMage out._


End file.
